Haven rebounds, tops PV

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Schuylkill Haven turned in a very un-Hurricane-type performance in last week's shutout loss to North Schuylkill.

Schuylkill Haven looked its old self Friday, especially Will Casella.

Casella ran for a season-high 253 yards and 6 touchdowns as the Hurricanes' running game was almost unstoppable in a 41-15 victory over Panther Valley in an Anthracite Football League contest at Rotary Field.

Schuylkill Haven (3-2, 3-1 AFL) was held to 159 yards of offense during last week's 19-0 shutout at North Schuylkill.

But the Hurricanes stormed back Friday.

Casella had scoring runs a 9, 2 and 4 in the first half added touchdown runs of 8, 47 and 32 in the second half. He finished the night with 34 carries, the last was his 32-yarder with 1:55 left in the game that set the final.

Casella's previous high this season was 174 yards against Marian in Week 2.

The banged-up Hurricanes were missing four starters Friday, including quarterback Ryan Fink and three starters on the offensive line but didn't look like it on offense.

The line of guards Jack Hower and Ken Harig; tackles Max Motko and Kyel Wingle, center Brandon Naus, along with tight ends Mike Feryo and Alec Bailey ,opened up huge holes in the running game as the Hurricanes ran for 379 yards total on 56 attempts.

Only Motko and Wingle are starters among the front five.

Zach Kerschner added 91 yards on 12 attempts for Schuylkill Haven, which scored touchdowns on six of its 10 possessions Friday, including a 3-for-3 showing the first half to take a 21-3 halftime lead.

Richard Nase run for 153 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns, while Kyle Ferryman ran for 150 yards on 19 attempts.

Panther Valley, which dressed only 24 players Friday, recovered a Hurricanes' fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half and turned that into points when Nase scored from 15 yards out.

The point-after kick was blocked, but it pulled the Panthers to 21-13.

Nase later scored on a 29-yard run on the first play of the first quarter, pulling Panther Valley to within 28-15.

Thanks to Nase and Ferryman, the Panthers had 355 yards of total offense Friday. but simply couldn't stop the Hurricanes. Panther Valley came in allowing 373.8 yards per game on the ground.

"My kids played hard," Panther Valley coach Lon Hazlet said. "I haven't seem them play physical like tonight. We hit some people tonight. For 32 minutes it was a pretty good game."

Lineman Seth Hunsicker and Donald Smail, both 300 pounders, where missing for Panther Valley on Friday. To fill in, Charles Nase moved from fullback to tackle and Dylan Moyer moved from lineback to defensive tackle.

"We just played 32 good minutes of football. We were physical, we played with some emotion, we played hard and I told them I was proud of them."

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